Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal, via a pair of videos on FOX Sports:

When the Athletics put Rich Hill on the market, they can be expected to charge a high price for him, Rosenthal says. Hill’s stats — if only for this season — compare favorably to David Price’s last year, and he might be amenable to an extension with his new team.

Prior to this season, there was no trade interest in Melvin Upton unless the Padres took on the rest of his contract. After a .268/.315/.464 performance this year, though, that’s changing, at least to a degree. San Diego still owes Upton a little under $40MM through 2017, but teams are now willing to give up talent, with the Padres’ return increasing depending upon how much salary they’re willing to take on. The Padres might be motivated to deal Upton and/or Matt Kemp to clear space for former first-round pick Hunter Renfroe, who’s batting .335/.362/.611 for Triple-A El Paso. Austin Hedges has also hit well for the Chihuahuas, which means the Padres could also look to move fellow catcher Derek Norris to clear space in the big leagues.

Jay Bruce to the Blue Jays would make sense, Rosenthal opines. Acquiring Bruce from the Reds would allow the Jays to move Jose Bautista (who’s currently on the DL with a toe injury) to DH and reduce playing time for the underwhelming Justin Smoak. The Jays have a greater need for pitching, but might play to the strengths of the market by acquiring hitting instead.

The Phillies could consider keeping Jeremy Hellickson, who’s in the midst of a solid season — he could eat innings for them down the stretch, with the Phillies perhaps gambling on him by extending a qualifying offer this coming winter and hoping to grab a draft pick as a result. But they would still “jump” at a good trade offer. Of their relievers, the Phils are more likely to deal David Hernandez or Andrew Bailey than Jeanmar Gomez, who they can control for 2017. Other Phillies candidates to be dealt include Andres Blanco and Peter Bourjos.

Rosenthal begins the second video with a brief discussion of an article of his from earlier today about former Cardinals minor leaguer Cody Stanley, who has already received a 162-game suspension and expects to receive a lifetime ban for repeatedly testing positive for the steroid Turinabol. Stanley claims to not know why he keeps testing positive. “I will never apologize for something I didn’t do,” Stanley said in a statement. “We will not stop searching for why all of this has happened.” Chris Colabello of the Blue Jays, Alec Asher and Daniel Stumpf of the Phillies and Boog Powell of the Mariners have all tested positive for Turinabol and received suspensions, and all claim not to know what happened. “Who would be stupid enough to take the same steroid again?” Stanley asks Rosenthal.

The Mets are likely to trade for pitching after a series of injuries to their hurlers, Rosenthal says. Recent injuries to Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard could have the team looking in different directions this month than previously anticipated, perhaps to starters, perhaps to relievers.

The Dodgers will consider dealing Yasiel Puig before the August 1 deadline, Rosenthal suggests. Whether they actually do deal him could depend, however, on the timing of Andre Ethier’s return and whether they acquire another outfielder.

Because at some point very soon they’re going to have more pitchers than they can put in the rotation. Some may be destined for the bullpen; others may be viable trade chips to bring back other needs for the club

If the Reds were smart, they would wait to cross that bridge once thy get there. You can never have too much rotation depth and banking on that to be the case could be disastrous. If you need an example, see NYM this year. One of the best rotations in baseball and might still make a move to acquire a SP.

I don’t get the Bruce to Toronto thing, like, at all. The Blue Jays may or may not have enough to win something this year, but betting on the reason being that they can’t hit with enough power seem stupid.

They also value his offensively average year last year aswell. At this point, puig is an average offensive player with some potential to improve but has probably already seen the best of his career. And that’s disregarding his off the field issues.

Puig has pretty much turned it around personally. He makes, almost, impossible plays in right field, & his arm is a cannon! Seen the “best of his career”? He’s only 25 and has consensus outstanding potential. His “off the field issues” have literally disappeared.

The Dodgers real problem is they have the “Andy and Farhan duo”. Outside of kicking their rears out the door, we don’t have many options.

Over the past year and a half (about a full year by PA), Puig was been worth less than 2.5 fWAR. Basically a league average bat, slight plus outfielder and scratch runner. He comes with injury concerns, a bad temper, and a reputation for not being very teachable.

The Puig of 2013/2014 seems like a very distant memory. He still has value and he projects to be slightly better than league average with the bat but I can’t imagine that anyone will be beating down the Dodgers door with an overwhelming trade offer. That ship sailed a long time ago.

Since coming off the DL (and armed with some tweaks to his swing), Puig’s OPS is .895. He’s looked really good, comfortable at the plate, with a better eye than earlier this season.

He still has the arm and can still make plays few OFs can make. And he’s on a team friendly 6M/year contract through 2018. He’s only getting traded if it’s for a top end arm, perhaps with a few other minor league assets swapped as well.

It easy to follow the heard and common misconception. At this point it’s a different Puig. It’s not even remotely close. If you look at the way he’s hitting and playing D you’re essentially seeing a lot cheaper Heyward. Will he ever match his power potential probably not. But he’s getting to the inside pitch and his swing looks more athletic. The dodgers are going to put such a steep price on Puig deservedly so. He’s not going anywhere unless it’s for an impact arm. There are a lot of GMs that would take a chance on a guy like Puig. But then again there aren’t many impact arms “available” this trade deadline.

Would you want Puig without the personality problems? I think an organization like the Dodgers cutting him might give him a wake up call and change his attitude. To try and prove them wrong. But who knows if that would work. Nobody does. I really dislike Puig but if I had a strong manager who commanded respect and a club house that didn’t tolerate crap. I’d roll the dice on him for the right price and if he fails you’re not stuck with a huge salary.
I think the Dodgers have never proven to me to really be able to handle big egos. Brian Wilson is an example. They found him to be cancer and cut him but for some reason on the Giants he was beloved. Man will it be interesting to read some of the books that come out when players of this generation retire.

Wilson? His problem wasn’t personality (strange as it was), it was his arm falling off. Puig was quite immature when he first came up, and behaved accordingly, and honestly he’s probably not the sharpest pencil in the box, yet his “personality problems” are overstated. Both Mattingley and Roberts have benched him for lack of focus and most recently Puig was pretty much required to face the cameras in a locker room interview on a night when he pulled a boneheaded play. We could see the discomfort and humiliation. So yes, his managers have made a real effort to impress upon him the need to keep his head in the game, and with some success. He is still a very valuable trade chip, if the Dodgers choose to play it.

No way is Vogelbach and Candelario fronting a return for Miler.
The scouting reports on both of these guys to start are not so exciting as one is purely a DH and if his bat doesn’t produce DH caliber numbers then you have non prospect. In fact these guys would be throw ins in a deal not front liners.

I’m a cub fan and if the Cubs want Miller it’s going to sting. Soler, vogelbach and candelario is a package that should get cashman off his seat. Miller is the best left handed set up man and he can also close.

Remember, the Yankees don’t have to trade him. He’s owed just $9 million each of the next two years. That’s peanuts especially for the yanks who never ever rebuild.

I’m not a Yankees fan by any means, but I’d think they’d definitely need more than that. That’d be trading Miller in the hopes that puig can recapture the form he had for a couple months near the beginning of his career, which in all likelihood, won’t be happening. I can’t see the Yankees having too much interest in puig at all honestly, let alone for their best trade chip, even though I’m admittedly lower on puig than others.

Puig would have to be a secondary piece in a Miller trade. I agree the primary piece would be someone like DeLeon or Holmes or Verdugo. The Yankees would have to move Beltran to Dh and bench ARod if they trade for Puig. Not sure how that would go over in the clubhouse.

Y in the world would we get Bruce he is the WORST outfielder in the game and we don’t need a DH as JB and EE and MS can do that job plus Zeke is playing fine if we want a outfielder get one that can actually play the positions

I dont think bruce is what we need for the sole reason I dont want EE playing 1B anymore than he has to. Seems like thats when he gets hurts. Smoak is great defensively at 1B as well but yeah, isnt hitting all that well. Hes still got some pop though which is nice. I would have like to see the jays grab ziegler instead of the red sox snagging him up. I think an elite pen arm should be #1 on our list, as well as maybe a starting pitcher if sanchez is indeed getting moved to the pen. If sanchez is moving to the pen, we dont need to get a pen arm, jus grab a good starting pitcher. Maybe a starter from tampa (would be hard since divisional team) or try to pry gray/teheran away. Would be very hard but I think we have the pieces to do it. Would have to include alford, pompey pentecost and probably jon harris to get a deal done though.

I don’t think Puig is going anywhere ….especially if it depends on Dre because there is no assurance that once he comes back he’ll stay healthy. The only 3 Dodgers that are untouchable are Kershaw, Seager & Urias, anyone else is up for the right player

Well there’s no assurance that anyone stays healthy, but betting on Ethier breaking another leg would seem to present poor odds. The real issue with Ethier is his value offensively is almost entirely against RHP.

It’s not so much breaking a leg but it’s a weight barring injury for one and its assuming he has enough time to work himself back into playing form and also regain his timing. That’s a lot to ask in such a short amount of time. Not only that but that assuming there are absolutely no setbacks. He’s already blown past his return estimate. But yeah at the end of the day he’s still a platoon guy and with advanced age and new legs power output becomes a question.

Sure, I agree with all of this. I was responding to the point about him staying healthy. Granted he’s lost quite a bit of playing time over the years to a variety of injuries, but broken bones are generally not a chronic issue (even though Ethier has had two of them). That part of his history seems like just plain bad luck to me.

Well this injury def is just bad luck. It hit him in the perfect spot. Part of staying healthy will depend on whether he’s fully healed or they rush his back a little. It’s not inconceivable to see him favor his opp side leading to a diff minor injury. But that’s part of the package with a 34 year old. Which in part makes the report that they’d part with Puig harder to believe.

Exactly. Unless they could package up Puig as part of a deal for Ryan Braun, I don’t see it either. Though even that seems unlikely given this FO’s aversion to taking on costly longterm contracts. They’d probably prefer continuing the Puig Project to a $100M commitment to Braun.

I don’t think Puig is going anywhere. The FO plays everything close to the vest. The adjustments he’s made offensively since he returned from his injury are tremendous. He’s also getting to the inside pitch that some never thought he could. If he’s on the market his talent defensive ability still probably put him in the convo for a front line arm. People may still have preconceived notions but he’s starting to stroke again.

That’s why it’s hard for me too see Puig getting moved. Thompson has also hit the proverbial rookie way. Toles is also a great unknown. Ethier is also coming of an injury to a weight barring area. His ability to play rf is more than questionable. Plus Ethier is still a platoon guy.

I really feel sorry for Stanley and all others who were caught on a black market substance lately. It is clear to me that somebody in medicine production messed up and messed up very very badly. If so who knows how many players could and probably will be affected by such devastating mistake. And believe me I know how easely it can be done, willingly or accidentally. If I was Manfred right now I would be at least concerned by the matter. Even more, I would initialize a serious investigation in regard to legal substance producers and suppliers.

How about the Mets give a chance to the pitching talent they have in the minors? At this point, what do they have to lose? I mean really, why bring more pitchers into the mix, before using the talent you ALREADY have. Just give them a shot!

In the offseason, Bradley’s value was low so it would have had to be Bogaerts or betts. 100% happy they didn’t make that trade because Harvey was coming off tmj and a long innings count and the Red Sox offense is one of the best, even though they need pitching.

I’d like to see the White Sox make another play for Yasiel Puig, something they attempted last offseason. They were turned down by the Dodgers, who instead tried to sell them on Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford.

Speculation still has the White Sox interested in acquiring a corner OF bat prior to the August 1st trade deadline. Most of the rumors have them inclined to go after a left-handed bat to insert between Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier in the middle of their batting order. Both Jay Bruce and Carlos Gonzalez have been mentioned as potential targets by the organization. As of late, switch-hitting Melky Cabrera has been the primary cleanup hitter and doing a decent job. They also expect recent left-handed hitting FA signing Justin Morneau to be added to the batting order mix soon after the All-Star break. Cabrera and Morneau are probably more suited to lineup roles outside of the middle three of a contending MLB batting order.

The last two off-seasons, the White Sox have gotten away from adding longer term core pieces after signing Jose Abreu and trading for Avisail Garcia and Adam Eaton in 2013. Instead they have gone for quicker fixes with shorter term veterans like current active roster members Cabrera, Frazier, Brett Lawrie, and Dioner Navarro, along with Alex Avila and Austin Jackson who are currently on the disabled list. They also signed Adam LaRoche who was a major bust before thankfully “retiring” last spring.

At this point of the season and with a wild card birth being their most likely road to the post-season, I would prefer the White Sox go back to their philosophy of 2013 and add more long term MLB ready foundation pieces to their roster. Forget trading for the 1+ year contracts of Bruce and “Cargo” and instead focus on adding long term additions that would coincide with their team-friendly deals still in place with Abreu, Eaton, Chris Sale and Jose Quintana which all run through at least the 2019 season with affordable club options. Yasiel Puig would fit that scenario through a trade, as would veteran right-handed hitter Ryan Braun. An international FA like Yulieski Gourriel would also qualify.

So, my recommendation to improve the White Sox long term without waiving the “white flag” in 2016 would include be the following:

1-Acquire RF Puig for a player who could help the Dodgers down the stretch and in 2017…3B Frazier.

2-Sign Gourriel to be their long term answer at 3B.

3-Move Eaton back to CF where he profiles better with his offensive game.

No to a Puig trade. The Dodgers have totally moved on, and away from Frazier. The Dodgers have an excellent farm system, plus the amazing Seager, who was originally pegged and still may be destined for third base. No.

You have to look past the stats, or at least look at all the stats. Until today, for the past two months, no Dodger starter had lasted beyond six innings except for Kershaw. The pen has pitched more innings than the rotation. Blanton has already pitched 46 innings. Hatcher is dangerous, Coleman is ineffective, and Baez is a thrower not a pitcher, at best. Before this season is done they will need more relief arms, and except for maybe Garcia they have few minor league options.

They actually have quite a few bullpen options in the minors at AAA the question becomes in a playoff push are they willing to let them go through the growing pains. They do need help if not for the abuse due to the rotation. A 8th or 7th inning guy would fit well.

Garcia is exciting but it’s not a leap to say when put in pressure pact situations he has underperformed. Baez is definitely a thrower but eliminating his ch which is what beat him on a majority of occasions has allowed his slider to become more effective. Coleman is what he is a mid relief guy who can get you ground balls. All in all this years core of the bullpen is quite good. They still need a mop up/long man.

They do need a piece though to push everyone back. The problem is most of the pieces are now effective only in match ups which is fine if your rotation gives you length. Howell in years past was a tremendous piece but he’s not the same guy. It is clear that Howell and Hatch have become the long/mop up guy. They can upgrade on Fien, Hatch, and Howell.

The Dodgers have tried through the waiver wire to obtain a lhs. Those don’t tend to cost much. A legit lhs, 8th inning guy, and a long man would round the pen out well.

Not sure if Garcia is exciting for the right reasons, but if he comes back at least he will be fresh. Other than that, nobody coming up looks like a setup option that a team would want to lean on down the stretch. I say deal Hatcher and Howell and some prospect for that guy.